New Federal Reserve statistics just released indicate that the Reserve Balances of commercial banks at that Federal Reserve increased by more than $83 billion this week to come in just short of $1.4 trillion on Wednesday March 9.
Excess reserves in the banking system averaged just under $1.3 trillion for the two banking weeks ending March 9. This figure tends to trail the Reserve Balances number because it is a 14-day average.
The Reserve Balances at the Federal Reserve are up over $360 billion since December 29, 2010 and up about $400 billion since September 22 just after Ben Bernanke warned the world that QE2 was on the way.
Bank Reserves have increased by 41% since that September date.
Note that on August 22, 2008 the total assets held by the Federal Reserve totaled $925 billion so that the increase in Reserve Balance from September 22, 2010 to March 9, 2011 of almost $400 billion represented 43% of what total Fed assets were before the financial crisis in the fall of 2008.
The $1.4 trillion in Reserve Balances are one and a half times the amount of assets held by the Federal Reserve on August 22, 2008.
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